Agricultural harvesters such as combine harvesters travel through agricultural fields harvesting crops. The harvesting machines typically have an agricultural harvesting head disposed at the front of the agricultural harvester that engages the standing crop plants.
The agricultural harvesting head functions by severing the stalks of the crop plants adjacent to their roots, and carrying the cut crop plants into the agricultural harvester for further processing.
There is a need to direct the crop plants onto the agricultural harvesting head as the roots are severed. This function is provided by a reel. The reel extends laterally with respect to the direction of travel of the agricultural harvester. The reel engages the top portions of the crop plants as their stalks are severed, and pushes the upper portions of the crop plants rearward such that the cut crop plants are received by conveying mechanism on the agricultural harvesting head. The conveying mechanism carries the cut crop plants to the agricultural harvester where the crop plants are processed further.
The reel of an agricultural harvesting head is generally in the form of central tube that extends laterally and is elongate. Several smaller tubes commonly called “bats” are distributed equiangularly around the circumference of the central tube. These bats are generally spaced equidistant from the central tube. Each bat supports several fingers that are spaced equidistantly apart with respect to each other. These fingers extend in the same direction on each bat.
The central tube is driven in rotation, and in turn causes the bats to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the central tube. As each bat ascends and engages the tops of the uncut crop plants, the fingers on the bat urge the crop plants rearward and onto the upper surface of the agricultural harvesting head.
In recent years, agricultural harvesting heads have been made longer and longer. This increased length has required that the central tubes be made stiffer so they do not sag in the middle. When the central tube sags in the middle, there is a risk that the fingers will be cut by the elongate reciprocating knife that severs the stalks of the crop plants adjacent to the roots.
This need for greater stiffness due to length has required that the central tube be made with a larger diameter, and often with a thicker wall as well. This, in turn, means that the agricultural harvesting head is not just heavier proportional to its length but heavier due to the increased wall thickness of the central tube and larger diameter of the central tube.
This additional weight, in turn, requires that the agricultural harvester be made heavier to support this weight, in particular the feederhouse upon which the agricultural harvesting head rests, and the hydraulic cylinders that raise and lower the feederhouse, and thus the agricultural harvesting head.
What is required, therefore, is a reel that is lighter in weight than the traditional reel arrangement. It is an object of this invention to provide such a reel.